Tradition, tradition, tradition! Many parents want to do the right thing and have the most
memorable experience for their children. Whether you are from a traditionalist two parent home,
single parent home, on your own, or extremely close to a relative, there is a blurred line of who
pays for what part of a wedding. Etiquette experts can help if you want to stick with the
traditional way. Keep in mind that it all depends on the people involved, financial situations and
the bride and grooms financial situation. Therefore, there are traditional things that the bride or
groom side pays for or you can split the cost equally. Other options would be the bride and
groom being able to pay themselves. If they are older and parents cannot pay, the couple may
want to cover it all! Lastly, they could be splitting the cost 3 ways- the bride side, groom side
and the couple all having a share in the payment. Whichever way works well for you would be
based on your wedding planning budget. This would be the first thing you need to figure out.
Keep in mind that you may have certain things in mind and if you ask to help pay for these
things, other people might want to change something or ask you to compromise on your choices.
Either way you have to be comfortable with how you spend your wedding budget and who is
involved in paying.
Traditionally, the bride’s side pays for more than the grooms. But today, the cost of a wedding is
so high and couples are getting married at an older age and are already established financially so
these traditional roles have changed.
Here is the breakdown from etiquette experts:
Bride:
1. Invites, announcements
2. Wedding gown
3. Flowers for ceremony, reception, wedding party girls
4. The reception! (This might be the biggest cost) food, wedding dj
, etc.
5. favors
6. Photography
7. Transportation
8. Grooms ring
9. Gift for groom
10. Makeup and hair
Groom:
1. Rehearsal dinner
2. His attire
3. Wedding gift
4. Marriage license
5. Honeymoon
6. Brides rings
7. Brides bouquet, groomsmen flowers, grandmothers and bride mom flowers
8. Fee for officiant